Federal vehicle seat minimum performance standards have been established to ensure a reasonable degree of safety for a seat occupant. In the case where vehicle seats are intended for children, these performance standards require providing a child with a seat restraint compatible with the child's size. Among other requirements, when the child is secured in the seat, the restraints should not pass over the face, neck or throat of the child. As a result, child restraint systems are typically provided in many sizes and configurations.
A wide variety of potential child restraint systems are well known in the art and include both conventional forward (or rearward) facing car seats and booster seats which utilize the vehicle supplied shoulder and lap belt for restraining the child in the seat. Each of these potential child restraint systems possess known drawbacks resulting from the rapid growth and development of children. Conventional car seats tend to be “grown out of” in relatively short periods of time, requiring adjustment or replacement at various stages of the physical development of the child. Conventional car seats also are typically only intended to safely and comfortably secure a child weighing up to sixty pounds. Booster seats which utilize the vehicle supplied shoulder and lap belt for restraining the child in the seat can be difficult to position and adjust to provide a larger child with maximum benefit from the restraint system. Both conventional car seats and child booster seats are also bulky and create storage and space availability issues when not in use within a vehicle.
It is therefore desirable to provide a child restraint system that is easily adjustable, compact and capable of accommodating and providing child weighing over sixty pounds with the maximum benefit from the restraint system.